2013/14 AGENTS’ FEES REPORT

28 August 2014

David Threlfall-Sykes

Full details on spending from last season

The latest publication of Football League clubs' spending on agents' fees has revealed that clubs committed a total of £17.7m to agents during the 2013/14 season, a reduction of 18% on the previous year (£21.5m).

The report, which covers 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014, shows that Championship clubs accounted for £14.7m of the total, with League 1 and League 2 clubs spending £2.3m and £0.6m respectively. Clubs committed to pay agents in 860 of the 3,355 player transactions that took place.

Four clubs did not spend any money on agents’ fees at all (Shrewsbury Town, Accrington Stanley, AFC Wimbledon and Hartlepool United) with more than a third of clubs (26) spending less than £25,000 each.

Huddersfield Town made 65 player transactions; these deals include new signings, outgoings, contract renewals and extensions plus some payments relating to deals done in prior years and future commitments going forward.

During this period, the total commitment on deals, including those paid on behalf of players, was £676,639 – up on Town’s total of £459,670 from the previous season. The Club’s second season at Championship level, the rise reflects the run-off of player contracts from the Club’s League 1 days and new long-term deals for Championship players including major incomings like record signing Nahki Wells and James Vaughan.

It was a very busy period for Town as the squad was improved to build on the Club’s first year in the Championship, with other incomings in this period including Adam Hammill, Joe Lolley, Jonathan Hogg, Jon Stead, Cristian Lopez, Martin Paterson and Daniel Carr, as well as extensions for the likes of Joel Lynch and Oscar Gobern.

In announcing the latest agents' fees figures, The Football League’s Chief Executive, Shaun Harvey, said: “The 2013/14 campaign was the first season against which sanctions will be applied in all three of our divisions under The Football League’s Financial Fair Play rules. It is therefore notable that we have seen a significant fall in payments to agents. Hopefully this is a sign that they are having a positive effect but it’s too early to know for definite at this stage.

“Whilst a reduction of £4m is welcome there is still a very significant sum leaving the game to pay agents. Under the financial reporting arrangements in place for clubs these liabilities are provided for in club business plans going forward.”